The United Kingdom’s Octopus Energy Generation said it plans to invest $20 billion (GBP 15 billion) in offshore wind projects by 2030, it said in a news release Monday.
The company, which currently manages $7.7 billion (GBP 6 billion) of green energy projects globally, said that the targeted investment will help fund the generation of 12 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity per year, which would power around 10 million homes.
Octopus said it is targeting projects around the world, focusing on Europe, and that it “already has several deals in the pipeline. The company will back developers of new offshore wind farms, as well as wind farms that are under construction or operational.
Octopus first entered the offshore wind farm market in 2022 and has since made five offshore deals amounting to a total of $1 billion (GBP 800 million), according to the news release. The company has stakes in the Lincs offshore wind farm and the Hornsea One wind farm, which are both off the east coast of England, and acquired the Borssele V wind farm in the Netherlands, which it said has some of the world’s largest turbines.
The company also backs Simply Blue, a developer of floating offshore wind projects, a type of offshore wind technology that taps into strong winds deeper out at sea, the news release said.
“Offshore wind has already rapidly transformed the UK’s energy system – and we’re incredibly excited about the potential for this technology globally”, Octopus Energy Generation CEO Zoisa North-Bond said. “We’ve got big plans to invest in even more of these big fans to help wean ourselves off polluting gas. Offshore wind will undoubtedly continue to play a pivotal role in meeting net zero, boosting energy security, and driving down bills.”
Germany Wind Investments
In June, Octopus made its fourth wind farm investment in Germany in less than a year by acquiring a project from RES, marking the first deal of Octopus and RES in Germany, according to a separate news release.
RES has begun construction of the 11.4-megawatt (MW) wind farm, which is being built on an abandoned site of a former USA air station near Prüm in West Germany, close to the Luxembourg and Belgium border. RES will help manage operations under a 20-year contract, working with landowners, local communities, and the municipality. The company has been active in the German renewables market for 10 years, developing, constructing, and operating wind and solar projects to drive the energy transition, with a pipeline of over 1.0 GW of renewable energy projects, according to the news release.
Octopus expects the farm to start operations in 2024. The project consists of two large Nordex turbines and will produce enough energy for 13,500 homes, the equivalent of planting 100,000 trees, the company said.
Octopus said it “already has several more deals in the pipeline to boost its generation footprint” in Germany over the next few months.
As Europe’s biggest wind market, Germany built 2.4 GW of new onshore wind projects in 2022, which is more than any other European country, the news release said. Onshore wind makes up 17 percent of Germany’s electricity mix, and the government is aiming to ramp up capacity by 10 GW a year from 2025, it said.
“We’re hugely excited about Germany’s renewables market, and we’ve quickly gone from 0 to 4 wind projects in less than a year”, North-Bond said. “We’re looking to rapidly turbocharge the German ‘Energiewende’ so those wanting to build more wind and solar in Germany should get in touch with us.”
“Germany continues to lead the way [in] onshore wind showing how a supportive policy direction and collaboration can positively shape the pace of deployment”, RES EMEA CEO Rachel Ruffle said. “Delivering more onshore wind will always be a win-win situation – greening our energy mix with cheaper generation and bringing inward economic investment to local areas.”
